Top 10 Mistakes Life Coaches and Wellness Practitioners Make when Creating a Website

#2 Hiring a nephew or tech guy

Technology is VERY broad. Someone who enjoys tech gadgets is not necessarily a technology expert. A technology expert is not necessarily a web expert.

Likely results of not hiring a web expert:

• an amateur-looking website
• an imminent redesign in 3 years or less
• a low quality message to your potential clients

The nephew or tech guy will quit on you:

• if they're a student, when exams roll around, they'll fall off the face of the Earth
• if they're an employee, when crunch time rolls around, they'll fall off the face of the Earth
• if they're a relative, when life rolls around, they'll fall off the face of the Earth

And what does your cheap website say about you...? Will a cheap website attract cheap clients or no new clients? Do you want to take that risk?

#3 DIY or using free/cheap templates

Sure, I could adjust my own spine, massage my own shoulder blades and coach myself in the mirror. Will I do it right? Probably not. Will I get the most effective results? Definitely not.

Similarly, if you're a coach or holistic practitioner, you can spend time figuring out a website yourself.

Will you do it right? Probably not. Will you get the most effective results? Definitely not.

What happens when you use free/cheap templates? Your cookie-cutter website looks like everyone else's. Here are 10 visual examples of what happens When you Invest your Website into the Wrong Hands....

#4 Trading with a client / friend

Trading your coaching or wellness services for a website inevitably leads to:

1. Confusion: how many sessions are you trading for which website features? what if someone is getting more/less value?
2. Awkwardness: without structure, it gets awkward to ask for more, expect faster delivery or discuss web during a session
3. Delay: to make the trade fair, web development is usually dragged on for months, even up to a year
4. Frustration: confusion + awkward patient/client relationship + website not coming to fruition = frustration

There's also the likelihood that this client/friend gets busy and falls off the face of the Earth.

#5 Seeing it as an expense instead of an investment

Websites aren’t an expense. Just like your education, your practice, and your relationships, you invested time/money/energy to obtain true lasting value. Websites are no different. If you don’t invest in your own public image, why would anyone invest in you?

It’s expensive… but compared to what?

If you think a $4,105 quote is expensive, what are you comparing it to? Sure, it's astronomical compared to your $20 yoga class. It’s even 821 times more costly than your daily latte!

But if you crunched the numbers, for the cost of 3-4 clients, your website pays for itself and could attract 12-28 new clients!

#6 Hiring a freelance web designer

But I hired a web person, how can that be a mistake?

Web designers come from a graphic background, so they're not programming experts.

They can deliver a pretty website that... doesn't do much to meet your communication, outreach and office management needs.

As you grow your practice, your web designer won't know how to synchronize your iCal to your website calendar, set up online appointment booking, or implement e-payments for your e-book.

Do you already see a redesign heading your way?

#7 Hiring a freelance web programmer

Ok, I hired a web programmer. How can that be a mistake as well?

The number one complaint I hear (that's not about the website itself) is about the web guy who is an awful communicator, which means you're not getting what you need.

Not all programmers lack communication skills, but many lack business acumen. They rarely dig deeper to understand the bigger picture of your holistic practice.

They may be brilliant at programming, but usually lack a sense of visual aesthetics.

#8 Hiring a generic web agency

Some coaches and wellness practitioners realize early on that cheap sites, DIY sites, pretty-but-non-functional sites and functional-but-ugly sites are not viable long-term solutions.

So they get turn towards expensive web agencies that work with big brands, not realizing that those agencies aren't geared to help small practices.

Here are insights from my 87 interviews regarding web agencies:

1. Exorbitant fees: they charge two arms and four legs
2. Non-incremental growth: they shove $15,000 projects down your throat
   
3. Impersonal: they treat you as another invoice number
4. No specialization: they don't understand coaching/wellness practices
5. No business growth: they don't factor in your business growth and goals
6. Rigid: they don't mold to your way of working
7. Short-term: they want to complete your project and move on
8. Imminent redesign: they create sites that are too difficult/expensive to update

#9 Leaving the care to someone else

Yes, web expertise should be left to someone else, but not the care and vested interest.

Often times, people leave the care (hence growth) of their site to someone else. It's circumstantial: their website is too expensive or difficult to update themselves.

Other times, it's a state of mind: people think that they're not expert enough to care for their site or they just don't want to be bothered.

But if you don't even bother or care about your professional image, why would anyone else bother with you?

With an open-source (free) Content Management System (CMS) , updating your own content and keeping your website alive is easy. You just need the right teacher.

#10 Failing to launch sooner

On one hand, there's impact bias: people imagine the worst (too much money, too much time, too difficult to maintain, etc.). It happens with public speaking or meetings with the boss, where the outcome is never as bad as first imagined.

On the other hand, there is inertia: people naturally tend to resist change. Excuses, lack of expertise, over-analysis, search for perfection, fear of not getting the outcome they wanted... they simply resort back to the status quo.

EVERY successful practice has a successful website as part of their business growth strategy. Wanting to launch is not enough. Doing is the first step toward building momentum and growth.

You have to kick the pebble for it to roll!

How do you avoid these Top 10 Mistakes when Creating a Website?

1. Discover the Top 25 Reasons to Work with an International Web Strategist
2. Experience why coaches and wellness practitioners  worldwide recommend us
3. Spread the word and share this article to help your friends and wellness practitioners save money, $22,000 worth of time and much frustration 
4. Shine us with your light and submit a FREE web redesign quote
   
5. Connect with Tina through Facebook or LinkedIn
6. Tell us in the comments: in retrospect what question should you have asked to get your desired website, save yourself time/money and avoid much headache?

I read every comment.